Standing up for Nature
I am a BBC Radio4 addict. I find it difficult not to listen to Today, the World at One and PM through the day even when they are filled with irritating bits! I have many other favourite programmes and I even listen to Woman’s Hour quite often, but you can hear enough of female genital…
Natural England has recently, but I’ve only just noticed, published an update to its Hen Harrier data to include data from this year (and some from a little earlier too). The update shows that 5 Hen Harrier chicks were satellite-tagged in England by NE in 2018: 3 have gone missing in the North Pennines (Mabel,…
Reviewed by Ian Carter It is increasingly widely recognised that nature is good for us. Most of us instinctively know this to be true and the science is gradually getting to grips with how this works; the biochemistry of a visit to the local woods and its impacts on our health and well-being. Science is…
Congratulations Les Wallace! I look forward to seeing what Defra Minister, Therese Coffey, has to say on this subject. Let’s remember that Defra claims to be evidence-based in its policy making. She can’t say that this information already exists – it doesn’t. The truth is that Defra would rather pretend they know the answer than…
Tim writes: White-rumped Snowfinch (Onychostruthus taczanowskii) is only found at high altitude meadows and steppes in the Himalayas. They are usually associated with Pika colonies as they nest, shelter and roost in Pika burrows. Though the relationship with Pikas seems rather one-sided as I noticed aggression between resident Pikas and Snowfinches with an eye to…
Continued from last Saturday After a few days of getting to know the Colonsay, with lots of short drives and walks to the most accessible places, I thought it was time to venture out into one of the more remote and wilder parts of the island. A look at the Ordnance Survey map drew me…
I am considering two guest blogs at the moment – both happen to be about fox hunting but similar issues arise as those described below about other wildlife crimes (such as against birds of prey). When people write about illegal fox hunting they tend to want to give examples where ‘huntspeople’ have been convicted of…
Did you see this story in the Independent this week? Endangered sharks being served up in British fish and chip shops, study reveals ‘It’s almost impossible for consumers to know what they are buying‘ https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sharks-endangered-fish-and-ship-shops-fishmongers-dogfish-hammerheads-a8755821.html
Last year I recorded which days I saw Red Kites, this year I am keeping a list of birds seen in or from my garden. Well, I’m on a respectable but not very impressive 24 species so far: Robin House Sparrow Jackdaw Blackbird Woodpigeon Starling Black-headed Gull Great Tit Red Kite Carrion Crow Chaffinch Goldfinch…
A BTO research report, which looks quite good to me, is being used, wrongly, by SNH to justify further Raven culls. The report, essentially, says that killing a few Ravens won’t make any difference to the Scottish Raven population level. That is certainly true (and I give you that finding freely – no charge!). However,…